Ashlyn's time spent basking in the sun was interrupted when several moments later, a girl with dark pigtails, no more than three or four, came running over and reached for the seat that Ashlyn sat on.

"Up, up," the girl asked, jumping to try and reach the seat. Gently, Derek lowered the seat while Ashlyn unfolded her legs, careful not to strike the child, holding the unit steady so that the child could just reach the handlebars.

Ashlyn smiled fondly at the young girl and looked around, searching for their parents, preparing to stand, and offer the seat to them.

A lady with the same dark hair came running over and promptly apologized, explaining that Maya loved teeter-totters, but all the other kids were too rough for her to play with. Maya, ignoring her mother, continued to try and climb up, so Derek stood allowing Ashyln's seat to rest properly atop the tire beneath it.

The woman gathered Maya in her arms and whispered apologies and excuses about her being too small to play.

Ashlyn slid back on her seat, making a little space for Maya and smiled at the woman.

I don't mind taking her? Or you could, and Derek can take the other end? Ashlyn offered, looking to Derek for assistance at the woman's pinched brows. Derek nodded and turned to the woman to explain.

"We'd be happy to give Maya a ride. She'll be in safe hands with Ashlyn, I promise," he smiled at both Maya's mother and then Ashlyn, the gesture more familiar when he looked at Ashlyn.

Maya wriggled in her mother's arms, reaching for the teeter-totter, but Ashlyn could see that her mother was still hesitant. Of course, it made sense with stranger danger being such an issue.

Ashlyn went to stand and offer her seat at the same moment Maya's mother spoke.

"I suppose that'll be okay. But I'm staying right here," she answered Derek hesitantly, placing Maya in front of Ashlyn. Ashlyn nodded in agreement, her smile kind.

Ashlyn wrapped one of her arms around Maya to hold her close, her other hand holding the handlebar, while Derek reassured her mother again that all would be okay before he climbed onto the other end.

Maya squealed with delight as the seat began to lift when Derek sat down, Ashlyn's feet brushing the ground below.

"Are you ready, Maya?" he asked, the teeter-totter sitting level, both his and Ashlyn's legs bent to provide a counterweight.

"Yes!" Maya screamed with enthusiasm, her mother and Ashlyn both laughing. Slowly Derek bent his legs as he lowered his end, and Ashlyn and Maya were raised into the air.

For the next ten minutes, they continued their movements, Maya having the ride of her life. The sound of her laughter when they went down, and her squeals as they rose, was music to Ashlyn's ears. The joy she had helped to capture resonated in her bones, every nerve alight with a mirrored joy.

When enough time had elapsed, Maya's mother stepped closer and told her that it was time for them to go home to daddy. Maya nodded, turning to hug Ashlyn's torso, before reaching out for her mother to pick her up.

"Thanks for playing wiv me," Maya smiled, her head leaning on her mother's shoulder. Ashlyn and Derek both smiled.

"Maya had a lot of fun, thank you," her mother added with a look of deep-seated gratitude before they turned and left.

As they walked across the playground and back towards the parking lot, Maya waved over her mother's shoulder and blew them a kiss. Ashlyn pretended to catch the kiss and placed her cupped hand against her chest, capturing it in her heart.

Derek slid from his seat and came to sit on the middle beam beside Ashlyn.

"Maya was sweet," he spoke quietly, and Ashlyn nodded, her features softening. What an unexpected blessing that last twenty minutes had been. She still could not fathom how wildly contrasting the tone of today had been.

When a peaceful quiet fell over the playground, and many of the children and their families had gone home, Ashlyn climbed down from her seat on the teeter-totter. She walked over to stand at the base of the mast erected in the pirate ship structure. She'd been watching it for a while now, calculating.

She looked up, assessing the different ways she could utilize the pole, the climbing rope, or the trapeze bar in getting to the top.

Brushing her hands on her pants then flexing her fingers, she grabbed on to the rope tightly, her feet jumping up to the first knot.

"Ash, what are you doing?" Derek laughed, rushing over to assist. She pointed to the beam that was mounted horizontally to the mast, then gestured with her head for him to follow as she reached higher on the rope, preparing to pull herself higher.

"Wait, let me help before you hurt yourself," he continued to laugh, cupping his hands to provide a foothold.

With her arms clutching the rope, and some assistance from Derek, he hoisted her up. She pulled herself the rest of the way up and onto the beam. Once she was settled on the beam, she turned so that she straddled it and leaned down to offer Derek a hand.

"Are you sure that it's safe?" He asked with uncertainty. She could see the nerves that tainted his eyes. Ashlyn's smile was encouraging, reminding him that they'd made a deal to trust one another more, and this was one of those moments that she was asking him to trust in her.

Do you trust me? She asked.

"Indefinitely." His gaze burned with the sincerity of his words, and the butterflies in her stomach flapped.

Steeling his nerves, he took her hand, wrapped the other around the rope, and climbed his way up the mast. Wrapping his arms around the beam, he pulled himself up and hugged the central post tightly. She could see that his chest heaved with anxious breaths, his eyes bugging as he glanced at the padding below.

At that moment, Ashlyn learned that Derek was afraid of heights, and yet he'd still climbed up there with her. He really had meant what he'd said. He trusted her indefinitely.

Her heart fluttered. This must have been how it felt to know that someone cared enough for them to follow in pursuit of your reckless actions, no matter what fears ailed them personally. The same level of trust and care that Derek asked of her in return. She pushed down the nerves that that knowledge awakened, instead choosing to take refuge for now in this moment of trust that had been established.

From the other side of the post, Ashlyn wrapped her arm around it, her hand resting opposite Dereks. She stretched out her fingers so that her fingertips prodded his. When Derek turned to look at her, she gazed back with pride in her eyes. Thank you for trusting me, her eyes said, the same words communicated in the small smile she gifted him.

Derek nodded, took a deep breath, and looked back out over the park. Ashlyn followed his lead, the view stealing her breath.

The playground was quiet, many families having left for the evening to return home for dinner and the homework that was beginning to pile up. Only a couple of older kids now remained on the field, engaged in a game of frisbee, their calls a soft cry below.

And out beyond the park stood the forests of Maine, a mix of natural and dark woods and greenery, silhouetted against the deep blue of the afternoon sky.

"Liam and I used to go to a playground like this back home," Derek spoke quietly, so softly she almost didn't hear him. She tilted her head to look at him around the pole, a sad ghost of a smile haunting her lips.

Derek clasped at the leather bracelet, turning it around his wrist.

"He always wanted to go on these new and wild adventures, but because neither of us ever had the money to do it, we used to create our own." Derek pinched the name on the bracelet, as though he could erase the date and turn back that moment in time. If only it were that easy. He wrapped his arm back around the pole, lost in the memory of Liam's final adventure, one he was not returning from.

Guilt danced seductively at the corners of his eyes, reminding Ashlyn that she still didn't know what had happened to Liam, and why Derek carried it like such a heavy weighted burden. It was true what they said; Grief, whether it came all at once or slowly, piece by piece, indeed was the price one paid for love.

"Our greatest adventure was during our final year of college when he convinced me to cut into my savings and live for a day. It was the week before our finals and the both of us were cramming as much study as we could into our last days when suddenly one afternoon Liam stood up, and he threw his textbooks in the bin, then looked to me as though he expected me to do the same." Derek chuckled.

"'Let's do something crazy,' he'd said to me. There was this energy, this desire to chase the thrill in his eyes, and I knew that there was no way I could have said no. I wished I would have the next day, though, when we pulled up to a skydiving field." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Somehow, he got me out of that car and into the harness and the plane. It was the most terrifying and paralyzing afternoon of my life, and I don't think I stopped screaming once after we jumped, but it was the adventure of a lifetime with my best friend, and that part I would have forever said yes to." His voice was distant, his mind traveling to another time and place.

She was grateful to him for allowing her to take this journey with him into his memories. Hearing this story, she had a newfound appreciation for him. Tackling a jump like that with a fear of heights took guts.

Ashlyn watched as the sorrow that marred his cheeks and eyes ebbed away, a delicate curve possessing his lips. He glanced up from his lap and gazed at Ashlyn with contentment.

"Liam and I did everything together, much to our mother's dismay at times." He chuckled. "He was the brother I never had." He added, a deep admiration in his voice. She could see, just in the way that he spoke, how much Liam had meant to him. Whatever had happened to him, it was a loss that wounded Derek. She wished that life didn't have to be that way.

It sounds like he was a great friend. She reached over to place her hand on his knee. She wasn't sure if he saw her words, but his hand covered hers, showing he'd understood that message.

"He was always there for me, looking out for me whether I knew it or not. Kind of like the friendship you have with Kass," he smiled. Ashlyn sucked on her bottom lip, trying to imagine another like Kass existing. She was delighted to know that Derek had been able to experience such a special friendship, and had the opportunity to do so again.

Ashlyn knew that it was tough for Derek to talk about Liam, and she appreciated that he had chosen to give her a small window into his life tonight. For all that Derek said about her being strong and brave, when she looked at this man beside her, she saw all of this and more in him.

Thank you for letting me in.

He nodded, sliding his fingers between hers so that he clasped her hand. She savored the act for a moment before disentangling her fingers so that she could open up to him as he'd just done to her. She wasn't sure how much he would understand, but she wanted to share it if only to have the knowledge of it out there and not haunting her every thought.

My Dad used to take me down to the ocean on the weekends, and we'd play in the waves and collect seashells. Sometimes he'd even build a mountain of sand over me so that I looked like a mermaid. A gentle breeze tousled her hair, just like it had done countless times when they'd played together in the waves.

The ocean is the last little piece of him that I have. I can no longer remember the sound of his voice, his smell is an indistinct souvenir, and many no longer remember the stories of him. The missing parts of him are gradually building up, and I'm scared for the day that this last piece of him will join it.

"Your Dad? From the things Abel has told me, he sounds like he was an incredible guy. I can see where you got your kindness and gentle spirit from." A single tear caressed her cheek. "He was an admirable man, from what I've heard." Ashlyn merely nodded, no one answer capable of fully capturing just how admirable he had been. At least not for her.

"You must have loved him very much, and I know he loved you too," Derek shuffled closer to the pole and reached around to rub her shoulder with his other hand.

She smiled, her eyes swimming in unshed tears of love and bearable recollections. For the first time, she could look back on her memories of the positives of his life and do so comfortably. Talking to Derek about him, her heart didn't ache nearly as much as it used to when she thought about him. Slowly, something else was building roots in her heart, restoring it to what it once was.

When vibrant pinks and oranges began to split the sky, and the air took on an unfriendly chill, Ashlyn gave a sigh.

"We should probably hit the road," Derek suggested, turning on his perch, preparing to assist her with getting down.

Ashlyn glanced at him with a quiet peace in her eyes.

Just a little longer, she answered and rested her head against the pole. She wished that the pole wasn't there, longing to feel his shoulder beneath her head, the rise and fall as he drew breath.

Perhaps it was a little forward of her to want such a thing, but at that moment, she was surrounded by all the things that made her feel safe. For the first time in a while, she felt at complete peace.

Long after the sun had been put to rest, and the stars began to twinkle, Ashlyn and Derek descended from their perch amidst the stars and made the quiet journey back to the ute.

Thank you for today. For everything, she turned to him when seated in the cab.

Derek's smile, though small, radiated with empathy. She could see that he'd needed today as much as she had.

"Always," he answered, turning the key and reversing from the parking space.

She settled into the passenger seat and closed her eyes, thoughts of pirate ships, and laughter carrying her off into the night.